[SOLVED] How to connect front panel wires to the motherboard

Solution
Hi,

Connecting the front panel connectors is a job that is much simpler than it seems. You may need your motherboard manual for a close up diagram for your motherboard connections but apart from that, its very easy.

Firstly, I would advise doing the LED's first because the + and - DO matter for these. The switches (marked as SW) are much easier because they don't matter which way round they go.

It is simple.... connect the + pin to the + pin on the mother board. On each of your connectors, if you look closely, you will see a small arrow on the black plastic ... this arrow is on the + pin.

1) THE HDD LED : the red wire is the pin that is +. Connect this to the bottom left pins on your motherboard. Make sure you align the + pin with...
on your case wires the white sides are the grounds or - on the motherboard side.
on the motherboard starting back row top left is power led spot..three pins.
the next two pins over on the back is for the power switch or on switch.
after the two missing pins the four pins on top right is for the speaker if your case has one or one came with your motherboard.
bottom left is your hard drive led two pins then your reset led.
then you should be out of cables. on the mb looks like there two places on the header for power led.
 
Hi,

Connecting the front panel connectors is a job that is much simpler than it seems. You may need your motherboard manual for a close up diagram for your motherboard connections but apart from that, its very easy.

Firstly, I would advise doing the LED's first because the + and - DO matter for these. The switches (marked as SW) are much easier because they don't matter which way round they go.

It is simple.... connect the + pin to the + pin on the mother board. On each of your connectors, if you look closely, you will see a small arrow on the black plastic ... this arrow is on the + pin.

1) THE HDD LED : the red wire is the pin that is +. Connect this to the bottom left pins on your motherboard. Make sure you align the + pin with the + pin on the motherboard. In your case it is the one on the most left.

2) THE LARGER POWER LED CONNECTOR : This goes to the bottom right of your motherboard connectors, just as it is labelled. The blue wire is the + pin. Align this with the left most pin, on the bottom right set, on your motherboard.

3)THE SMALLER POWER LED CONNECTOR : This goes to the top left of your motherboard connectors, where it is labelled " +PLED- ". Unfortunately both wires are white, so I cant tell which is +. You need to look for the small arrow on the plastic connector. The + pin goes to the most top left pin on your motherboard connectors.

4) RESET SW + POWER SW : These are the easiest to install. The + and - doesn't matter. Just align the whole connector with the corresponding connector on your motherboard. ( You should understand what I mean, by now :) ) The Power SW goes to the pins labelled " + PW- " and the Reset SW goes to the "- RES + "

Don't worry... if you get the connectors in the wrong place or you get the polarity wrong. It will not damage your computer..... the switch/ led just wont work ... that's it. So if you see that something isn't working, try swapping the connector around and make sure it is in the right place.

This video might help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE2y30bIejE

Hope all this helps and don't forget to choose the best answer so that it benefits others as well !! :)
 
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Solution

PeterF

Reputable
Aug 16, 2014
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No not a solution; but a BIG congratulation to an answer that is just that; an answer that fully answers the question post. This is a first for me on this subject. Most other leads I followed merely led to new questions.

So, thank you.
 

ArxAchilleus

Commendable
Oct 28, 2016
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1,510
Hi guys , i would like to ask if by mistake you connect the power + connector to the MB - socket, can this prevent BIOS from booting? I transferred today my old rig into a new case, connected everything as it was on the old case, but the bios wont boot. I have 4 LED phase lights on MB and 3 of them blink (green one is steady - DOS)